Most Asian Markets Continue Rally

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Most Asian markets continued higher Tuesday, with the exception of Japanese equities which pared gains after the Bank of Japan trimmed the size of its bond-repurchase offer by 5%.

Japan’s Nikkei Average still ended up 0.6% at 23,849.99, hitting a new 26-year closing high while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index, topped 31,000 for the first time since 2007. It finished up 0.28%, or 84.89 points, at 30,899.53, matching a record 11-day winning streak recorded in 1999.

Shares pulled back in Japan after the central bank’s decision to cut the size of its offer for bonds maturing in 10 to 25 years by 5% to ¥190 billion ($1.7 billion) sent the yen higher. Some saw the BOJ’s move as a sign of slight policy tightening.

Tencent was the most heavily traded stock in Hong Kong. It rose 1.2 percent to an all-time high of HK$443.80, beating its previous record of HK$439.60 set in November. The internet giant has had a strong start to the year, climbing 9 percent in the first five trading sessions.

China’s main Shanghai Composite index closed up 0.16 percent at 3,414.8339 points. China stocks extended a rally to an eighth straight day, with major indexes ending at their six-week highs.

The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Shanghai Jiaoda Onlly Co Ltd up 10.06 percent, followed by Shanghai U9 Game Co Ltd gaining 10.01 percent and Easysight Supply Chain Management Co Ltd up by 9.98 percent.

Elsewhere:

South Korea’s Kospi turned lower and fell 0.1% as heavyweight Samsung Electronics 005930, -3.11% dropped 3.1%. While saying it will post its best-ever quarterly earnings in the fourth quarter, Samsung’s projected results were still short of analysts’ expectations.

The Sydney All Ordinaries inched up 0.08 percent, or 5 points, to 6,241.50.